Abstract
The objectives of this descriptive study of a food-borne botulism outbreak caused
by the consumption of minced barking-deer meat in Phusang district, Phayao Province
were: (1) to confirm the diagnosis of botulism and the outbreak of the disease; (2) to
study the characteristics of the disease’s epidemiology, the outbreak and the distribution
of the disease; (3) to find the cause of the outbreak, source and vector of transmission of
the disease, and (4) to measure the disease control interventions. Descriptive and analytical
epidemiological studies used retrospective cohort studies to prove the hypo- thesis
of relative risk (RR) factors.
The result of this study found that 69 persons (26.53%) of the 260 persons who ate
the barking-deer were hospitalized in Chiangkham Hospital (between 24 June and 5 July
2006). The majority were males (62.31%), aged 30 - 60 years (34.62%). The main symptoms
of infection were abdominal distension, stomach ache, nausea, diarrhea, dry mouth,
difficulty breathing, and vomiting, respectively. An analytical epidemiological study
found that the food that caused the illness was raw minced barking-deer meat (RR = 2.04,
95% CI = [1.11 - 3.75] and showed that the persons who ate the raw meat were two times more to get the disease. As for other barking-deer body parts, it was found that the bile
(RR = 1.66,95 % CI = [1.13 - 2.43]) and entrails (RR = 1.66, 95% CI = [1.10-2.05] were the
main risk factors. The laboratory results confirmed that seven of the patients who got
botulism survived.
It was suggested to the public health institute and the officials related to the Bureau
of Epidemiology that they should take care of the people by emphasizing the importance
of hygiene and not eating raw meat, especially entrails, and that they should change their
consumption behaviors.
It was also suggested that the next research (1) study the consumption behaviors
related to eating raw meat and find methods for reducing illness, and (2) study ways to
communicate information on safe consumption behavior.
